Brazilian BTG Pactual will offer its clients investment options in digital currencies, such as bitcoin and ether, starting next quarter. The largest investment bank in Latin America reinforces its strategy involving this growing asset class.
Access to the crypto market for BTG Pactual digital and BTG+ customers will be gradually made available through the new platform, Mynt, 100% focused on crypto actives. And the bank also plans to include other digital currency offers over time.
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“BTG understood that there is a great opportunity, and a gap in the world of crypto”, says André Portilho, head for the digital assets area at BTG, highlighting that the bank is the first in the country to provide access to these assets.
Despite the strong volatility of digital currencies, as well as an embryonic regulatory environment, an increasing number of companies accepts them as a payment method, with the North American cinema chain AMC being a recent example.
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This year, even with the strong correction since the historic high in April, when it reached 65,000 dollars, bitcoin has gained more than 60%, trading last Friday afternoon at 47,300 dollars.
For comparison’s sake, Ibovespa, a benchmark in the Brazilian stock market, recorded a decline of around 6% in the same period.
“We will have a complete platform with blockchain-based assets,” said Portilho, without detailing what new assets the bank will offer.
From real estate to benefits, we have a range of assets that can be tokenized. We will explore this according to market demands and, above all, always following current regulations.
ANDRÉ PORTILHO, HEAD OF BTG’S DIGITAL ASSETS AREA
He adds that several of these digital assets will also be available on other BTG platforms, but not on the home broker system – that can be accessed via BTG Pactual’s applications and websites.
The liquidity of the negotiations, according to the executive, will be made by Mynt itself, “ensuring prices that are competitive with the market”.
The platform will include content for educating and informing customers about this technology in a segment in which names like the Mercado Bitcoin are already consolidated.
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“We believe that this, with all the educational content that we are going to develop, will not only distinguish our platform but will also help develop the market,” he said.
This is not BTG’s first incursion into the world of cryptocurrencies. In 2019, the group issued the ReitBZ security token. In April of this year, it launched a bitcoin fund.
Portilho did not mention the amounts involved in the new business, stating only that the investment is being made gradually.
(Translated by LABS)
